I know this will shock some people, but I am a regular NPR listener. I feel disconnected if I don't get All Things Considered on a regular basis, I love Marketplace, and Prairie Home Companion and Car Talk keep me in stitches on the weekend.

Yesterday I was listening to Car Talk, and I heard the following proposal from Ray:

Raise the gasoline tax by 50¢/gallon/year for 6 years, to a total of an additional $3/gallon.

Give tax allowances for people with kids, business, etc.

He identified some of the benefits of this proposal, including a decrease in the real cost of oil and a transfer of money from the oil companies (he didn't mention producers) to, well, us.

Car Talk is somewhat of a comedy show so I do have to consider the source, but this was a very pleasant surprise. Tom and Ray often recommend that people buy relatively large SUV's; to hear them propose measures to discourage people from doing exactly that is a welcome development. It means these ideas are getting more and more traction, and just in time for the elections too.

Just one thing, though; if they've been reading The Ergosphere for policy ideas, why the heck haven't they called me to say thanks?

Dovish... that MixAlco process looks interesting, however I think that it will ultimately be less efficient than cellulosic ethanol or butanol (because there are several extra steps including adding in hydrogen which will have to be produced somehow... perhaps by pyrolosis of some of the biomass).

It also may even be less efficient than simply burning the biomass to produce electricity, though there is the advantage that you don't have to dry it first (but again you have to distill in the MixAlco process).

Additionally that star-roter engine does not even have a working prototype running yet, and it also looks like there will be cooling problems associated with it.

A techno-economic model of the process indicates that with the tipping fees available in New York (126 dollars/dry tonne), mixed alcohol fuels may be sold for 0.04 dollars/L (0.16 dollars/gal) with a 60% return on investment (ROI). With the average tipping fee in the United States rates (63 dollars/dry tonne), mixed alcohol fuels may be sold for 0.18 dollars/L (0.69 dollars/gal) with a 15% ROI. In the case of sugarcane bagasse, which may be obtained for about 26 dollars/dry ton, mixed alcohol fuels may be sold for 0.29 dollars/L (1.09 dollars/gal) with a 15% ROI.